Wireless control of networks provides the capability of remotely controlling and monitoring devices in many areas such as home and commercial automation, industrial automation, lighting, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) control.
Wireless control networks are attractive for deployment of advanced control systems because they save the cost of cabling, labor, materials, testing and verification of the wiring and installation. However the installation, configuration of parameters for binding of the wireless devices requires highly skilled professionals, special equipment and complicated manual procedures.
As an example, the standard manual pairing/binding procedure of a light switch and a lamp (after the devices are installed and the network parameters are loaded) is:
Entering the switch's set up mode by pressing a specific push button and having a set amount of time to connect a lamp by pressing and holding an activation button on the lamp. This is a time consuming procedure that is prone to errors and is suitable only for small-scale installations.
Installing a wireless control network requires several main procedures to be performed on each wireless device after the network scheme, parameters, and activation are defined. These main procedures are:                1. Entering a unique ID (UID) such as a unique radio ID.        2. Entering a startup attribute set (SAS) such as a personal area network (PAN) ID of the network.        3. Identifying (connecting) the physical location of the device with its UID and its logical location and function on the network scheme.        4. Pairing/binding of controlling devices and sensors.        
This installation challenge is increased when a large quantity of sensing devices needs to be paired to corresponding controlling devices.
There have been several attempts to solve these problems which are described in the following paragraphs. Most of them are time consuming and require expensive equipment and highly qualified personnel.
Culbert describes a RFID network arrangement, which is a system for automatic configuration and authentication of network devices in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/220,205 (2005), whose disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.
Culbert does not solve the problem of locating wireless devices and performing post installation configuration tasks. At installation time the devices are given “various communication setup and security parameters” from the base station. These parameters are configured by the user or by the factory.
Culbert does not specify how this information is stored in the base station, and specifically does not mention how devices are distinguished from one another.
Wang describes an initialization of wireless-controlled lighting systems in U.S. Pat. No. 6,859,644 (2005).
Device initialization according to Wang is a complex post-installation process. After devices are installed, there is a complex phase of initialization in which each device transmits a request for initialization and a local control master responds and verifies initialization. This process requires devices to be turned on, which consumes energy (critical for battery operated devices). In addition, in case there are many devices in the network, the process of initializing all the devices is time consuming.
Pereira describes a method and system for automated distributed pairing of wireless nodes of a communication network in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/120,799 (2005), whose disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.
Pereira uses a context manager node to determine location of devices and enable automated distributed pairing.
The technology used to determine location of devices is expensive and the algorithms are complex for a network where devices are mostly static. Furthermore, the user usually determines which nodes should be paired. The process of determining which nodes should be paired cannot be automated.
Combs describes a method to wirelessly configure a wireless device for wireless communication over a secure wireless network in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/150,376 (2005), whose disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.
The method according to Combs contains two phases of configuration. In the first phase devices are configured so they can communicate securely with the administrator. This phase can either be done by the manufacturer, or at the customer's site. The second phase takes place over a secure channel and configures devices so they can join the secure network. The method according to Combs requires pre-configuring the devices and bringing them close to an administrator (such as PC), requires software manipulation, is time consuming and is suitable only for small networks (such as networks of printers).
Kruse describes an independent radio frequency programming device and method for the automation of the setup process for a lighting system with lighting control devices and master controllers in U.S. Pat. No. 7,126,291 B2, whose disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.
In the method, according to Kruse, it is assumed that before the setup programming the system is powered-up and the devices are identified by the master controller. The programming device eavesdrops on the messaging traffic between the master controller and each device and is capable of automatically programming each one of the devices. Kruse doesn't mention how the devices are identified by the master controller. The pairing/binding and device locations are not mentioned.
There is a need for a simple automated method and system for initialization, location and binding of devices in large wireless networks.